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I love that little laugh that happens when

two souls begin to speak at the same time.

A sound we hear a lot now and again

when utterances jarringly combine.

That sound does not yet have a name I know,

but it deserves Good Connotation’s side.

It is: “say, fellow soul, be friend or foe--!

!--ah! now we’ve both some silliness to chide!”

The iciest of breakers’s what that is,

it takes indeed a great foe not to smile.

And, after that quaint “who speaks first now?” quiz,

you both can carry on for quite a while.

I love it, for it says “I’ll talk to you,”

and neither needs to worry if it’s true.

~~~

1 Nephi 1

How else were you afflicted, favored one?

Where did your faith and fortitude come from?

When was your well-known bravery begun,

in Jeremiah’s dark Jerusalem?

Did it all start right here, where you begin?

Were you still young, untested as of yet?

Are these your first encounters with “real” sin?

Is this how stalwart faithfulness is set?

Or is there more that you do not relate?

Faith does not grow from nothing, after all.

I think there’s something hidden you don’t state,

a point at which you chose to stand up tall.

Or maybe that’s right here. But, either way,

I hope I listen to the things you say.